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A Banū Sāsān Underworld Poem by Naṣrid Andalusī Jurist ʿUmar al-Mālaqī (d. after 1440 CE)
Abstract
In this presentation, I analyze and translate a previously unstudied 83-line qaṣīdah from 15th-century CE Granada, written by jurist and zajal poet ʿUmar al-Mālaqī (d. after 1440 CE). Scholars lack Arabic sources for this period, making the poem a key find in literary history. It is remarkable for its treatment of the Banū Sāsān, a legendary criminal society with roots in the Islamic East (al-Mashriq). While hewing closely to some expectations of the genre, such as “jest and earnest” (hazl wa-jidd) and mock loyalty pledges to “Sheikh Sāsān,” it departs from them in other ways, most especially with a virtuoso catalogue of allusions to history, literature, magic, and locations in Iberia and North Africa. The qaṣīdah thus teaches readers about literary history, tempering as it does an eastern literary mode with western Islamic flavor. What's more, it does so with a more erudite tone that also serves as an index of contemporary intellectual trends. For this panel, ʿUmar al-Mālaqī's poem shows the breadth and variety of medieval Islamic West creativity and defies the standard focus on court poetry, above all by al-Mutanabbī, when studying East-West Arabic reception.
Discipline
Literature
Geographic Area
Spain
Sub Area
13th-18th Centuries